Mint Man

Trained by P J F Murphy out of Castlecomer in County Kilkenny, the five-year-old broke his duck at Dundalk in December 2024, then added a second win at Naas in August 2025. That Naas victory is now ten months in the rear-view mirror, and his last six runs have read 8-8-7-8-4-8 — meaning his best effort in that stretch was a fourth place. He's clearly struggling to recapture whatever clicked on that August afternoon.

His regular partner in the saddle is Luke McAteer, who has ridden him six times without a win between them. That's not necessarily a criticism of either horse or jockey — sometimes a combination just hasn't found its moment yet — but it does underline how elusive the winner's enclosure has become for Mint Man lately. Murphy's yard has sent out four winners this season, so the operation is clearly capable of getting horses into winning form. The question is whether Mint Man can be one of them again.

He raced just yesterday, which means he's firmly in the middle of his campaign rather than being freshened up for a tilt at something big. For a horse with his profile — honest, consistent enough to place, but rare to win — that busy schedule suggests his the yard are hunting for the right opportunity rather than sitting on a potential star. He's the kind of horse that keeps you watching, keeps you almost there, and occasionally, as Naas reminded us, delivers exactly when you need him to.